Brno: Typical Mistakes & How To Avoid Them (Part Nine)

IN round nine of the Brno Open I faced a Polish-registered junior (born 2006) from Kyiv.

He finished the tournament gaining 130 Fide elo and winning prizes for coming seventh, for being the top junior and for being the best player rated under 1800, altogether netting 1,500 crowns, which is about £60.

Spanton (1771) - Kostiantyn Makhynia (1773)

Our game began 1.Nc3 d5 2.d4 c5 3.e4 dxe4, when White is playing an Albin Countergambit with colours reversed and an extra tempo (Nc3).

I realised the best continuation was probably 4.d5, but I preferred 4.dxc5?!, playing the man boy rather than the board.

My reasoning was that juniors tend to be massively underrated from a tactical perspective, but overrated positionally (although thanks to disruption caused by covid measures, many juniors now are underrated in both categories).

Therefore it makes sense to get queens off as that reduces tactical opportunities, but an inferior move is an inferior move even if it does fulfil some other objective.

After 4...Qxd1+ 5.Nxd1 the game continued 5...e5 6.Nc3 Nf6, whereupon 7.Bg5 Bxc5 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.Nd5!? put Black in something of a dilemma.

What should Black play?

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Black has the bishop-pair and is a pawn up, but there is no way to both protect f6 and prevent ...Nc7+.

However Stockfish15 and Komodo13.02 reckon neither is necessary, claiming Black is at least equal after sacrificing the exchange, and giving up castling rights, with the remarkable 9...Be6!? 10.Nc7+ Ke7 11.Nxa8 Rc8. Indeed Stockfish15, but not Komodo13.02, gives Black the upper hand.

The game saw 9...Bb6 10.Nxf6+ Ke7, after which I could not resist grabbing a pawn with 11.Nxe4!? Objectively this may be OK, although the engines reckon Black is slightly better, but practically it left Black with the tactical chances that come with having a pair of bishops on a relatively open board.

Instead I probably should have played 11.Nd5+, eg 11...Kf8 12.Nxb6 axb6 leaves White with much the better pawn-structure and, according to the engines, an equal position.

Position after 12...axb6

Effectively my fear of playing an underrated junior led me to pick an objectively sub-optimal line in a bid to reduce my opponent's tactical chances, and I illogically followed this up by grabbing a pawn in a way that increased my opponent's tactical chances.